JP2012034373A - Video display system and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

A video display system and a control method are provided which are excellent in address management in an environment in which a plurality of devices are connected by a plurality of different communication methods.
A video display system comprising a display device and a wireless device connected to the display device, wherein the first display device communicates with one or more external wireless devices by a first communication method. One or more external radios based on a receiving means for receiving an address value related to the communication system, an address related to the second communication system related to the video display system, and an address related to the first communication system of the one or more external wireless devices received. And assigning means for assigning an address related to the second communication method of the device to an address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices, wherein the wireless device receives video transmitted from the one or more wireless devices.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that supports two different communication methods. For example, the present invention relates to a video display system and control method provided with a wireless communication interface and HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) (registered trademark).

In recent years, digital devices equipped with HDMI, such as TVs, DVD players, and DVD recorders, have become widespread. Furthermore, a technique for wirelessly communicating a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) message defined in the HDMI standard has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

As described above, in recent years, communication methods for digital devices have been diversified.
It is possible to communicate with a counterpart device by wire via HDMI, or communicate with another counterpart device wirelessly. With the advent of digital devices that support these two different communication methods, various connection forms of digital devices are assumed.

For example, the first device and the second device are connected via HDMI, and the second device and the third device
And the third device and the fourth and fifth devices are connected to each other via wireless communication.
A connection form that is connected via HDMI is assumed.

JP2008-22560

However, in the above connection form, it is difficult to appropriately allocate addresses for communication methods via HDMI. This is because wireless communication with a communication method different from the communication method via HDMI is interposed in the middle of the connection form described above.

An object of the present invention is to provide a video display system and a control method excellent in address management in an environment where a plurality of devices are connected by a plurality of different communication methods.

A video display system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a video display system including a display device and a wireless device connected to the display device, and communicates with one or more external wireless devices by a first communication method, Receiving means for receiving an address value related to the first communication method of one or more external wireless devices; an address related to the second communication method related to the video display system; and an address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices received. And assigning means for allocating addresses related to the second communication method of one or more external wireless devices to addresses related to the first communication method of one or more external wireless devices based on Receive the transmitted video.

It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the transmitter which comprises the communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the receiver which comprises the communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the communication system to which the communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows an example of the communication system comprised only with the radio | wireless apparatus called Native, and an example of the communication system containing a pair of radio | wireless apparatus called Pass Through. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the communication system to which the communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows an example of the 1st address processing method. It is a figure which shows another example of the address replacement process in a 1st address processing method. It is a figure which shows an example of the 2nd address processing method. It is a figure which shows an example of the address notification method. It is a figure which shows an example of the path | route switching method. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 1st address processing method. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 2nd address processing method. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the address notification method. It is a flowchart which shows a path | route switching method.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a transmission apparatus constituting a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the transmission device includes a wireless PHY 101, a wireless MAC 102, a video transmission unit 103, an HDMI reception unit 104, an AVC command control unit 105, an address storage unit 106, an address management unit 107, a command processing unit 108, and switch control. Unit 109, CEC command control unit 1
10, HDMI switch unit 111, EDID 121, EDID 122, EDID 123, HDMI input terminal 13
1, an HDMI input terminal 132 and an HDMI input terminal 133 are provided.

The HDMI switch unit 111 selects one of the input signals including the video signal and the address signal input from the video line and the address line of each HDMI input terminal 131, 132, 133,
The data is transmitted to the HDMI receiving unit 104. The HDMI receiving unit 104 transmits the video signal to the video transmission unit 103. The video transmission unit 103 converts the video signal into a packet format that can be wirelessly transmitted, and converts the wireless MAC unit 10
Send to 2. The wireless MAC unit 102 transmits the video packet to the wireless PHY unit 101, and the wireless PHY 101
The video packet is transmitted wirelessly.

On the other hand, all command signals input from the command lines of the HDMI input terminals 131, 132, and 133 are transmitted to the CEC command control unit 110 without passing through the HDMI switch unit 111. The CEC command control unit 110 receives a command received via the command line as a command processing unit 1
Transmit to 08. The CEC command control unit 110 transmits a command to the command line in response to an instruction from the command processing unit 108. The command processing unit 108 is a CEC command control unit 11.
0 or the command received from the AVC command control unit 105 is processed, and AVC is processed according to the processing content.
Commands are given to the command control unit 105, the CEC command control unit 110, the switch control unit 109, and the address management unit 107. The switch control unit 109 controls the HDMI switch unit 111 in response to an instruction from the command processing unit 108. The address management unit 107 sets the HDMI physical address value for each EDID 121, 122, 123 and manages the address storage unit 106 in accordance with an instruction from the command processing unit 108. The address storage unit 106 stores address contents. EDID for each HD
It includes information such as an address to be notified to devices connected to the MI input terminals 131, 132, 133. In response to an instruction from the command processing unit 108, the AVC command control unit 105 performs radio unit MAC10.
Command transmission to 2 and the content of the received AVC command are transmitted to the command processing unit 108. The wireless MAC 102 performs processing of a MAC layer for wireless transmission. The wireless PHY 101 performs physical layer processing for wireless transmission.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of a receiving device constituting a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the reception device includes a wireless PH 201, a wireless MAC 202, a video transmission unit 203, an HDMI reception unit 204, an AVC command control unit 205, an address storage unit 206, an address management unit 207, a command processing unit 208, and a CEC command. Control unit 210, HDMI output terminal 23
1, an HDMI input terminal 232 and an HDMI input terminal 233 are provided.

The wireless PHY 201 receives a video packet from the wireless and transmits it to the wireless MAC 202, and
Performs physical layer processing for C command transmission and reception. The wireless MAC unit 202 sends the video packet to the video transmission unit 203. The video transmission unit 203 converts the received video packet into a video signal and transmits the video signal to the HDMI transmission unit 204. The HDMI transmission unit 204 transmits the received video signal to the HDMI output terminal 231. The AVC command control unit 205 receives an instruction from the command processing unit 208, a wireless MAC2
In accordance with the notification from 02, AVC command transmission / reception processing is performed. The command processing unit 208 processes commands received from the CEC command control unit 210 and the AVC command control unit 205, and issues instructions to the address management unit 207, the CEC command control unit 210, and the AVC command control unit 205 as necessary. In response to an instruction from the command processing unit 208, the CEC command control unit 210 transmits the CEC command to the command line and receives the command processing unit 2 for the CEC command received from the command line.
Notification to 08 is performed. The address management unit 207 receives instructions from the command processing unit 208, HDMI
Based on the HDMI physical address value included in the EDID of the device connected to the HDMI output terminal 231 received via the address line of the transmission unit 204, address processing is performed and the result is stored in the address storage unit 206.
To record.

As described above, the communication device including the transmission device and the reception device has been described, but the communication device of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if you focus only on information transmission processing,
The above-described transmission device can be regarded as a communication device, and when attention is paid only to information reception processing, the above-described reception device can be regarded as a communication device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication system to which a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As illustrated in FIG. 3, for example, the communication system includes a TV 1, a wireless reception device 2, a wireless transmission device 3, a wireless transmission device 4, a device 5, and a device 6.

An address value called a station ID (STID) is set in the wireless reception device 2 and the wireless transmission devices 3 and 4, thereby performing communication between wireless devices. STID takes a value from 0x00 to 0x3D. Wireless devices include devices with HDMI input terminals or devices with HDMI output terminals.
Wireless devices are connected to TVs and various devices via HDMI cables. An HDMI physical address is assigned to a TV or device having an HDMI terminal. The HDMI physical address is included in the EDID and transmitted from the downstream (video signal receiving side) to the upstream (video signal transmitting side) via the address line.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication system including only wireless devices called Native, and FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication system including a pair of wireless devices called Pass Through. In the communication system of FIG. 4A, since there is no HDMI device, there is no allocation of addresses for communication by HDMI. On the other hand, in the communication system of FIG.
The HDMI device is connected through a pair of wireless devices called gh. In this case,
Since the connected HDMI devices are one-to-one, it is relatively easy to allocate addresses for communication using HDMI.

Unlike such a communication system, one HDMI via a wireless device as shown in FIG.
In a communication system in which a device and a plurality of HDMI devices are connected, it is not easy to allocate an address for HDMI communication. Hereinafter, address management in such a communication system will be described.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication system to which a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As illustrated in FIG. 5, for example, the communication system includes a TV 1, a wireless reception device 2, a wireless transmission device 3, a wireless transmission device 4, a device 5, and a device 6. With reference to FIG. 5, address processing and route switching processing will be described. The communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied to the wireless reception device 2, can be applied to the wireless transmission device 3, or can be applied to the wireless transmission device 4.

The communication device includes means (1) for assigning an HDMI physical address to a wireless transmission device including a wireless device (Native), means for notifying the assigned HDMI physical address value via HDMI (2), HDMI
There is means (3) for switching the route of the wireless section in response to the route switching request from. For example, the address management units 107 and 207 play the role of these means. As a result, wireless devices (Native)
Connection of multiple wireless devices and a route switching process including a mixture of wireless devices (Pass Through).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the first address processing method.
The address management unit 107 of the transmission device (see FIG. 1) to which the communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied acquires the STID (= 0x02) assigned for wireless communication of the own device and the wireless device. Based on the HDMI physical address value (= 0.0.0.0) of the HDMI device downstream of the transmission device, the physical address value of the own device is assigned. As an example, the allocation is, for example, the most significant 0 position of the HDMI physical address value acquired from the downstream (for example, if the HDMI physical address value acquired from the downstream is 0.0.0.0, the leftmost position is the most significant 0 position. Yes, HDMI physical address value 1.0.0.0 obtained from downstream
(The second position from the left is the most significant 0 position) is replaced by the STID value. However, since each digit of EDID is 4 bits long, the corresponding STID value is 1 from 0x01 to 0x0F
Limited to 5 cars. As described above, the address assignment method shown in FIG. 6 is simple.

The HDMI physical address of the own device calculated by the address management unit 107 is the address storage unit 10.
6 and used to calculate the HDMI physical address of each HDMI input terminal. The HDMI physical address value is calculated by replacing the most significant 0 of the HDMI physical address value of the device with the terminal number of each terminal. The calculated HDMI physical address value is the EDID 121, 122 corresponding to each terminal.
, 123.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the first address processing method described above.
The address management unit 107 acquires the STID value from the address storage unit 106 (ST101).
. The STID value assigned to each wireless device is assigned based on the address value assignment method defined in the existing wireless communication method. Subsequently, the address management unit 107 acquires a downstream HDMI physical address value via wireless (ST102). Note that STID value acquisition and HD
The acquisition of the MI physical address value may be switched in order or in parallel.

Subsequently, the address management unit 107 determines the depth of the hierarchy of the own device from the highest 0 position of the acquired HDMI physical address value (ST103). Furthermore, the address management unit 107
Replaced the physical location of the HDMI physical address value with the STID value (ST104)
The HDMI physical address is stored in the address storage unit 106 (ST105).

Subsequently, the address management unit 107 starts the iterative process for the number of HDMI input terminals (ST106 to ST108). In the repetition process, the numerical value of the layer one upstream of the own device physical address value is replaced with the HDMI input terminal number (ST107). The address management unit 107
The replaced HDMI physical address value is stored in the corresponding EDID (ST108). This completes the processing for one terminal, and further repeats the processing for the next terminal.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the address replacement process in the first address processing method described above.
The address management unit 107 first converts the STID value (6 bits) of its own device into a bit value and converts the upper 3
Divide into bits and lower 3 bits. The address management unit 107 converts the upper 3 bits and the lower 3 bits so that 0 does not appear in both the upper 3 bits and the lower 3 bits. That is, the upper 3 bits and the lower 3 bits are converted so that 0 does not appear in both the upper 3 bits and the lower 3 bits. Specifically, when the third bit of the upper 3 bits is 0, the address management unit 107 generates the upper 3 bits by replacing the third bit 0 with 1, and the lower 3 bits of the third bit is 0. In this case, the lower 3 bits are generated by replacing 0 in the third bit with 1. In addition, if all 3 bits are 0, set 1 to the 3rd bit (0x0 →
(Conversion to 0x8) is also conceivable, and is not limited to the above conversion processing. Further, the address management unit 107 sets the value converted as described above to the highest 0 position of the HDMI physical address value and the 0 position following the highest 0, respectively. That is, the upper two digits of the 4-digit value constituting the HDMI physical address value are replaced with the converted address value. As a result, wireless devices can be registered with no limit on the number of devices, but since two layers of HDMI physical address values are consumed, the number of HDMI devices that can be connected upstream is limited.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the second address processing method. In the second address processing method, an HDMI physical address value is set for the MAC address (and STID) of each wireless transmission device.
Therefore, the HDMI physical address value can be set without being limited to the STID range.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the second address processing method described above.
Address management section 107 starts the iterative process for the number of wireless transmission devices (ST20).
1-ST208). In the repetitive processing, first, the address management unit 107 acquires the MAC address value and STID value of the wireless transmission device (ST202). Subsequently, the address management unit 107 determines whether the HDMI physical address of the wireless transmission device is already registered in the address storage unit 106 (ST203).

When the HDMI physical address of the wireless transmission device is not registered in the address storage unit 106 (ST203, NO), the address management unit 107 assigns an HDMI physical address to the wireless transmission device (ST204), and assigns the assigned HDMI physical address. The address is stored in the address storage unit 106 (ST205). Furthermore, address management section 107 notifies the assigned HDMI physical address value to the wireless transmission device (ST206).

When the HDMI physical address of the wireless transmission device is already registered in the address storage unit 106 (ST203, YES), the address management unit 107 checks whether the STID value has been changed (ST207), and the STID value has been changed. If so (ST207, YES), the STID value is updated (ST208). That is, if the device connection configuration is changed, the STID value is updated according to the change.

This completes the processing for one wireless transmission device, and further repeats the processing for the next wireless transmission device.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an address notification method.
The address management unit 207 of the wireless reception device 2 receives the HDMI physical address value of the downstream TV 1 via HDMI, receives the STID of the upstream wireless transmission devices 3 and 4 via wireless communication, and receives the received downstream downstream
Based on the HDMI physical address value of the TV 1 and the STID of the received upstream wireless transmission devices 3 and 4, FIG.
The HDMI physical address values of the upstream wireless transmission devices 3 and 4 are calculated by following the reverse process of the address assignment process shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. Further, the address management unit 207 notifies the calculation result to the TV 1 with a command (<Report Physical Address>).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the address notification method described above.
The address management unit 207 of the wireless reception device 2 transmits the downstream device (TV 1 in FIG. 9) via HDMI.
An HDMI physical address value is acquired (ST301). Subsequently, the number of wireless transmission devices (FIG. 9).
The repetitive processing of the wireless transmission devices 3 and 4) is started (ST302 to ST305). In the repetition processing, first, the address management unit 207 acquires the STID value of the upstream wireless transmission device via wireless communication (ST303). Subsequently, the HDMI physical address value of the upstream wireless transmission device is calculated from the downstream HDMI physical address value and the STID value of the upstream wireless transmission device (ST30).
4). This calculation process is the reverse of the address assignment process described in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, or FIG. Further, the address management unit 207 notifies the downstream device with the calculated HDMI physical address value of the upstream wireless transmission device with a command (<Report Physical Address>) (ST3).
05).

This completes the processing for one wireless transmission device, and further repeats the processing for the next wireless transmission device.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a route switching method.
The address management unit 207 of the wireless reception device 2 sends a command (<Set
When Stream Path>) is received, the STID value of the wireless transmission device of the wireless connection destination is calculated from the argument included in the command. In other words, the STID value of the wireless transmission device that is the wireless connection destination can be calculated from the argument included in the command using the address assignment processing described in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, or FIG. The wireless reception device 2 performs connection processing (CONNECT processing) to the wireless transmission device 4 having the calculated STID value, and passes the received command (<Set Stream Path>) to the same wireless transmission device 4 (PASS THROUHG). ) Transmit.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the route switching method described above.
First, the address management unit 207 of the wireless reception device receives a command (
<Set Stream Path>) is received (ST401). Subsequently, the address management unit 207 uses the address allocation processing described in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, or FIG. 8, and determines the STID of the wireless transmission device to be connected from the HDMI physical address value of the argument included in the command. The value is calculated (ST40
2). Subsequently, the wireless reception device and the wireless transmission device having the calculated STID value are connected (CONNEC
T processing) is performed (ST403), and a command (<Set Stream Pass>) is transmitted to the wireless transmission device (PASS THROUGH) (ST404).

As described above, video transmission is performed in an environment where multiple wireless devices (Native) to which HDMI devices are not connected and wireless devices to which HDMI devices are connected (Pass Through) are mixed, and where multiple wireless devices exist. And command operations such as route switching.

The present embodiment will be summarized below.
A communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit via a transmission line A (Wireless HD) and an address assignment unit used on the transmission line B (HDMI). For example, the address assignment means assigns an address on the transmission line B based on an address on the transmission line A. Alternatively, the address assigning means assigns an address on the transmission line B based on the conversion table.

Further, the communication apparatus described above has means for notifying the address on the transmission path B acquired via the transmission path A to another transmission path B.
Further, when the communication apparatus described above receives a path switching request on the transmission path B, the communication apparatus establishes a path on the transmission path A and sends a path switching request to another transmission path B beyond the transmission path A. Means for performing the transfer.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, the embodiments may be appropriately combined as much as possible, and in that case, the combined effect can be obtained. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the column of the effect of the invention Can be obtained as an invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Wireless PHY, 102 ... Wireless MAC, 103 ... Video transmission part, 104 ... HDMI receiving part, 10
5 ... AVC command control unit, 106 ... address storage unit, 107 ... address management unit, 108 ...
Command processing unit 109 ... Switch control unit 110 ... CEC command control unit 111 ... HDMI
Switch part, 121, 122, 123 ... EDID, 131, 132, 133 ... HDMI input terminal,
201 ... Wireless PH, 202 ... Wireless MAC, 203 ... Video transmission unit, 204 ... HDMI receiving unit, 205
... AVC command control unit 206 ... Address storage unit 207 ... Address management unit 208 ... Command processing unit 210 ... CEC command control unit 231,232,233 ... HDMI output terminal

Claims (4)

A video display system comprising a display device and a wireless device connected to the display device,
Receiving means for communicating with one or more external wireless devices by a first communication method and receiving an address value related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices;
The second communication method of the one or more external wireless devices based on the address related to the second communication method related to the video display system and the received address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices. The address is the first of the one or more external wireless devices.
And assigning means for assigning addresses related to communication methods,
The video display system, wherein the wireless device receives a video transmitted from the one or more wireless devices. The allocating means includes the one or more external radios based on the address related to the second communication method related to the video display system, the received address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices, and a predetermined rule. The video display system according to claim 1, wherein an address related to the second communication method of a device is assigned to an address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices. A transmission unit that wirelessly connects to one of the one or more external wireless devices by the first communication method, and transmits a switching instruction and an instruction to pass the switching instruction to the first device;
The allocating unit is configured to determine the one or more external addresses based on an address related to a second communication method related to the video display system, an address related to the first communication method received from the one or more external wireless devices, and a predetermined rule. Assigning an address related to the second communication method of the wireless device to an address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices;
The switching instruction is an address value based on an address value related to the first communication method and a predetermined rule, and the second of the connection device connected to the first device by the second communication method. Including a first address value relating to the communication method of
The transmission means calculates a second address value related to the first communication method of the connection device based on the first address value and the predetermined rule, and connects to the first device based on the second address value; The video display system according to claim 1. A control method in a video display system comprising a display device and a wireless device connected to the display device,
Communicating with one or more external wireless devices by a first communication method and receiving an address value for the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices;
The second communication method of the one or more external wireless devices based on the address related to the second communication method related to the video display system and the received address related to the first communication method of the one or more external wireless devices. The address is the first of the one or more external wireless devices.
Assigning to addresses related to communication methods;
Receiving video transmitted from the one or more wireless devices;
A control method comprising:

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